Hacker News Reader

parfeon Microsoft's new foldable keyboard

This is going to revolutionize computing. It took Microsoft to step up and develop something revolutionary to how we interact with our devices. And the best part is not that it's just one device, but all devices. I can use this at my workstation, my tablet, my cell phone, my watch. This is going to usher in a new age of Access. Not just computing but information available to the fingertips of every human on Earth. A New dawn.

parfeon Facebook fugitive attached GPS monitor to a “motorized contraption”

That document only determines sentencing level, not years. You need to also reference the criminal history calculation and finally the actual sentencing guideline.

http://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/training/annual-...

http://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/guidelines-manua...

parfeon What should the next Aaron Swartz do when the DOJ knocks?

>The feds wanted capitulation, a guilty plea.

No shit. Aaran Swartz wasn't a special case. He's just notable to the community because suddenly it was a perpetrator a lot of people could actually empathize with. The plea rate for federal prosecutions is 96% [1].

Swartz wasn't even looking at 35 years mandatory minimum [2]. That was just the total if you added up all the maximum penalties without factoring in the sentencing guidelines.

Sadly, his mental health issues complicated his situation, but really the advice is the same for the Next Swartz as the next Random Guy Caught With Too Much Crack [3]. Keep your mouth shut, take the best offer your can get, and plea out.

[1] http://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-pub...

[2] https://www.popehat.com/2013/03/24/three-things-you-may-not-...

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Sentencing_Act

parfeon Water Fluoridation Linked to Higher ADHD Rates

I think science articles should be banned from HN. The userbase is clearly not educated well enough to deal with the issues. It only produces comments from armchair scientists conjuring up whatever pet theory they can explain away the results with. Comments like the classic freshman stats quote "correlation does not equal causation", or the standard response starting with "Judging from the abstract", or the always informative "I didn't read the paper, but what if they forgot to control for X?"

The only topic that gets worse comments than science on HN is gender issues.

Edit: and killed by mods. From +25 at the top to the bottom

parfeon Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

Getting the poor out of the city won't be easy. They don't have enough capital to fund a relocation on their own. The government will probably need to ship them out on rail cars. Once the undesirables vacate their homes, those structures can be replaced with housing more fitting for the well-off residents of the city.

parfeon MySQL 5.7.6 is out

The postgres manual. Seriously. It's all you need to forget mysql existed.

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/interactive/index.html

parfeon How a 25-Year-Old Investor Spurred Lumber Liquidators’ Plunge

The idea of private citizens both being able to investigate companies for wrong doing and earn income for their work appeals to me. No lawsuit, no legal process. After doing some investigations, just some quick transactions on a trading account, and a blog post later.

parfeon Uber hauls GitHub into court to find who hacked database of 50,000 drivers

No,Uber is fishing for data they don't need. They have an IP address of the intruder. Instead of demanding all the access logs for a months long period, why not compel Github to answer the question "Did this IP address access the Gist in question? If so, what are the timestamps?"

Instead Uber wants all github's access log data for the gist in question which sounds like more incompetence and desperation on Uber's part.

parfeon Uber hauls GitHub into court to find who hacked database of 50,000 drivers

The entity responsible is being punished. They're paying for identity protection for a year and taking yet another public image hit. The hacker? Whoever it was did society a favor by exposing yet another careless company giving away your data because they don't value security.

parfeon Uber hauls GitHub into court to find who hacked database of 50,000 drivers

Uber publishes secret key.

Uber ignores security breach for half a year.

Uber sues third party while trying to repair damage caused by their own failings.

At this point the identity of the hacker is irrelevant. The data is in the wild, Uber is exposed as incompetent (again). But hey, anyone want to invest another billion at a 40 billion valuation? This company is going places.

parfeon Coding is not the new literacy

Have you taken a philosophy department logic course? I learned way more useful logical thinking in philosophy classes. My CS classes didn't even come close. Sure I learned to make a mindless machine calculate the proper result, but that's far less important than reading the writing of another person an being able to understand their ideas.

parfeon Comment sections are poison: handle with care or remove them (2014)

Users are not permitted to comment freely on HN. Step too far out of line and your comment becomes invisible and you risk a shadow ban. This site offers the most vanilla, white bread, predictable discussion of any forum I frequent. No real surprise about what this user base wants.

parfeon Are tablets falling out of favour?

The only people I see using tablets are older. Everyone I know without reading glasses uses their cell phones instead. Guess I'll age into a tablet but if I need a device too large for my pocket I'm bringing a laptop. All those blogs from three years ago proclaimed a tablet based productivity revolution that never materialized from my perspective. Tablets are just another consumption display for AARP members.

parfeon A Story About ‘Magic' (1994)

Common? Hell no! Obvious? Yes.

For a switch to work a circuit must be present. Either a neutral line or a ground it is the only way to send information.

If a functioning switch has only a single wire feeding into it then it must be reaching ground through other means.

parfeon A Story About ‘Magic' (1994)

Haha HN, how did this post get downvotes? The second I read about "a switch needing two wires" I thought "Unless it's grounded." Interesting story, but hardly "magic"

parfeon Baseball’s Fight with Fatigue

>I'd argue that soccer players running 10-15 miles every game have a bit more to deal with.

You mean kilometers, not miles.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/06...

parfeon Introducing Google Cast for audio

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bubblesoft...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.videostrea...

Which permissions do you take issue with? I don't see anything like what you claim.

parfeon The Man Behind Common Core Math

Number sentence is an equation explained using words a six year old understands. Children use counters all the time. Ever played air hockey? I'm not sure how that would be confusing. A number story is a word problem.

parfeon The Man Behind Common Core Math

Fixed, thanks.

All math solutions will be equivalent. And it isn't a parlour trick. It's teaching kids to think about breaking down problems into smaller units and composing a solution. The rote algorithms work, but training kids to execute an algorithm won't help them understand.

The long form subtraction algorithm isn't a skill that carries over to multiplication. Breaking a problem into smaller components, composing a solution, and checking with your original estimate does carry over. And not just multiplication but programming as well.

parfeon The Man Behind Common Core Math

While I don't doubt some teacher at some school somewhere on america may have done something ill conceived, do you have a source? A quick Google found some common core work on estimation which was multiple choice, clearly geared towards understanding magnitude.

Teachers don't sit around all day thinking up ways to trick students and anger their parents.

parfeon The Man Behind Common Core Math

Are you addressing me specifically? Hn does not give me the option to downvote direct replies to my comments, even if I wanted to. Someone else on this website felt your comment deserved a downvote.

parfeon The Man Behind Common Core Math

No it doesn't break down. The point of common core is to help students understand why. The how is important but learning the rote algorithms are as helpful for understanding as using a calculator.

parfeon The Man Behind Common Core Math

Some random gis image. http://i.imgur.com/RvAUuPK.jpg

Compare that to how you could solve the problem in your head.

.01 + .70 + 6.00

For my example I bet you'd think 5¢ + 50¢ + $5.00 to compute your change.

parfeon The Man Behind Common Core Math

It hit the mainstream in early 2014, when a dad in North Carolina posted a convoluted "Common Core" question from his son's second-grade math quiz on Facebook, along with a letter he'd written to the teacher. "I have a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics Engineering which included extensive study in differential equations and other high-math applications," he wrote. "Even I cannot explain the Common Core mathematics approach, nor get the answer correct."

Lunch costs $14.45. You pay with a $20. If you calculate your change without borrowing you just did common core math. The best facet of common core is the amount of adults complaining they don't understand it. Rather than an argument against, it is exactly an argument in support of teaching kids multiple ways to think about math.

parfeon Illinois General Assembly passes bill to ban citizens from recording police

Which is a fine argument to make once you've been run through the justice system and finally get to face a judge.

But giving a tool to for officers to use while making an arrest, confiscating footage, and passing the case to prosecutors to file charges is not OK. Even if you think the trial judge, or worse, an appeals judge will rule on precedent. This law is meant as a cudgel to abuse the public.

parfeon BPG Image format

People aren't forgetting. It's a disgusting "in" joke. The entire point of including it is because it's pornographic.

Disappointing, but unsurprising, to see HN defending the use of literal pornography in a professional setting. I thought we moved past the Ruby on Rails jerks defending porn in a professional setting as harmless fun.

parfeon Saddest Day: Macbook Pro Stolen While in San Francisco

Which cultures don't respect personal property?

parfeon Mean People Fail

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-26987980

I moved to self hosted owncloud as a result.

parfeon Mean People Fail

People aren't mean in front of millionare investor. Duh?

Steve jobs, bill gates, uber, dropbox, zygna. I guess those are all exception?

parfeon Would Air Travel Be Safer Without Pilots?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJzg6W2f7Ng#t=1975

The sad thing is you can hear the cockpit alarm say STALL STALL STALL and the pilots never even acknowledge it.